Just got a new E280R and so far so good. My only issue is available space. I have deleted all the example pic, audio and music files that came on it, leaving only the directory tree. My sole use for this is as an mp3 player in my car, so I want all available space for music files.

When I do a properties (in windows explorer) on the PPI NAND directory (appears to be the unit root directory) it shows used space as 2,044,358,656 and free space as 5,953,684,5087.

Is this normal? Does the "system" take up this much of the units memory? Or am I doing something wrong?

The total amount of writeable space is used space is the used space + free space, 7.997GB. If you would like to remove the 2GB or so of used space and completely clear the memory then format the device in My Computer (right click on device, format, ensuring that FAT32 is selected).

I actually tried this. I could not get to format on the device itself, but one step below on the PPI NAND directory. But when I did a format there, it left all the sub directories and still had the same amount of used space. Any idea of what I am doing wrong?

And, if I do get it to work the way you have stated, what will I lose by freeing up that 2Gig?

Thanks again.

Mike V

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander

The total amount of writeable space is used space is the used space + free space, 7.997GB. If you would like to remove the 2GB or so of used space and completely clear the memory then format the device in My Computer (right click on device, format, ensuring that FAT32 is selected).

And, if I do get it to work the way you have stated, what will I lose by freeing up that 2Gig?

I would assume that a file corruption has left a section of 'used' space, which remains even after deleting the contents of the drive, and that a format can remove this so that the space is usable once more...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike V

Any idea of what I am doing wrong?

No actually, maybe this is a problem someone with an e200 will know more about though.

Your player needs to be in Rhapsody mode and you need to unhide hidden files and folders. Look in the System folder on the player and then Music folder. You will see a lot of RAX files. You can just delete all that Music folder that is inside of the System folder.

Thanks. It worked, somewhat. It now shows 3.99G space used and 3.46 space free. But, I have only loaded 2.65G of music files. Something is still taking up quite a bit of space.

The way I understand it, there are total 7.44G available. With 2.65 in loaded music files and the system saying there are 3.99G of used space and 3.45G of unused space, that leaves 1.35G of spaced used by something. Is this normal for this unit and is it now at maximum available space? Any ideas?
Mike V

Now, I have deleted just about everything except the directory tree which has nothing in it and the System directory with its subdirectories and it totals 33.1M.

I guess my question is does this unit use about 1.35G for its operation that is not available to the user? and if so, does the non-R E280 do the same, or would it all be available? If so, it would be woth returning this and getting a non-R unit to gain an additional 1.35G of space.

Yes. I have cleaned it up pretty well. the only thing I can see is the 2.65G of music files I put on and 33.1M in the system directory. This would make about 2.66 or 2.67G that I can see on the unit, but it says that there are 3.99G used. This is leaving about 1.35G unaccounted for, and this is what I am trying to figure out. If it has to do with this being an R model, I think it will go back. But, if this is what any e280 would use as internal resources, I will keep what I have. I just clearly do not have the ability to figure it out.

Try going into Recovery mode and put a blank file called "sansa.fmt" because this will reformat the whole player. You will loose the songs you had put on there, but I will know it is not anything hidden in a different location on the player. I have the Sansa e280R, too. The system is taking only about 2MB on my player.

This appears to have worked. I now have almost the entire 8G available for music. As a side note, when I plug the unit into the computer it no longer recognizes it as an E280 but now it is just a removable disk (F, but this is not an issue considering it freed up all the memory for what I want there.

Thank you very much for your help. I hope it is not almost 6 in the am where you are. Time to get some rest.

Normally you can just format in Rhapsody mode using the steps described in the 2nd post of this thread. You should only need to resort to using a Sansa.FMT file in Recovery Mode if the player can't boot at all.

If it has to do with this being an R model, I think it will go back. But, if this is what any e280 would use as internal resources, I will keep what I have. I just clearly do not have the ability to figure it out.